知情者称，FTC的反垄断律师定于下周和微软的竞争对手会米艾尼，收集更多相关信息。目前调查的一个关键重点是，微软将广受欢迎的办公生产力和安全软件与云产品捆绑销售。调查部分重点是，原名Azure Active Directory的微软安全软件 Microsoft Entra ID，它帮助用户在登陆基于云的软件时进行身份验证。The media reported that a key focus of the investigation is Microsoft's bundling of office productivity and security software with cloud products. If the news is true, it will be the US government's review of Microsoft's business practices again after the Microsoft breakup case at the beginning of this century, more than twenty years later.
$Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ Still trapped in the threat of being forced to sell Chrome after losing an antitrust case, $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ is now also being targeted by usa regulators.
On Wednesday, November 27th, Eastern Time, Bloomberg reported citing sources that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the USA has launched a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Microsoft, covering various aspects from cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI) products. This action comes after over a year of informal dialogues with Microsoft's competitors and business partners, with enforcement officers drafting detailed requests spanning hundreds of pages, compelling Microsoft to provide relevant information, which have already been sent to Microsoft.
Sources claim that the FTC's antitrust lawyers are scheduled to meet with Microsoft's competitors next week, including Mie Ai-Ni, to gather more information. A key focus of the current investigation is Microsoft's bundling of popular productivity and security software with its cloud products. An area of investigation is Microsoft security software, Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), which helps users authenticate when logging into cloud-based software.
Both Microsoft and the FTC have declined to comment on the above news. If the reports are true, it will be the US government's first review of Microsoft's business practices in over twenty years.
In 1999, a US federal court ruled that Microsoft had illegally leveraged its market dominance in the Windows operating system, pushing out browser competitors including Netscape Navigator. A settlement agreement in 2001 forced Microsoft to stop putting competitors at a disadvantage in the personal computer business.
In June 2000, the court made a formal ruling requiring Microsoft to stop the practice of bundling sales. More significantly, there were plans to split Microsoft into two parts: one handling the operating system business and the other managing other software businesses. After initially losing the case, Microsoft appealed, eventually reaching a settlement with the US Department of Justice, avoiding the split but paying a hefty settlement fee and opening up some source code.
Coincidentally, before Microsoft faced a wide-ranging antitrust investigation, in August of this year, Google lost the biggest antitrust case in the US tech industry since Microsoft's breakup at the beginning of the century. Federal Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google's search services violated US antitrust laws.
Later, Wall Street News mentioned that this decision on Google bears astonishing similarities to Microsoft's antitrust case. Just as Microsoft was found to be illegal for abusing the market dominance of the Windows operating system, Google also faces legal sanctions. Judge Mehta cited the Microsoft case from over twenty years ago as a reference. Sam Weinstein, a law professor from Cardozo Law School who previously served as an antitrust lawyer at the Department of Justice, pointed out: "The government has been explicit and implicit in stating that they are building the legal basis of this case based on the Microsoft case."
Earlier this month, media reported that after Google lost the lawsuit, the US Department of Justice sought Judge Mehta to force Google to sell the Chrome browser, as well as to seek data license requirements, along with remedial measures related to artificial intelligence (AI) and the Android smartphone operating system, to break Google's monopoly.
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